Radiant burner



April 8, 1969 D. SAPONARA 3,437,416

RAD IANT BURNER Filed May 16, 1967 Sheet M4 mam r02 DOM ENICK SAPONARA Anne/vex April 1969 D. SAF'ONARA 3,437,416

RADIANT BURNER Filed May'l6, 1967 Sheet 3 of 4 #0477704. DOM ENIC K SAPONARA D. SAPONARA RADIANT BURNER April 8, 1969 Sheet Filed May AVVf/VTOR. DOME NICK SAPONA RA p 8, 1969 D. SAPONARA 3,437,416

RADIANT BURNER Filed May 16, 1967 Sheet 4 of 4 m Vavme. DOM E NICK SAPONARA United States Patent 3,437,416 RADIANT BURNER Domenick Saponara, Allentown, Pa., assignor to Caloric Corporation, Topton, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Filed May 16, 1967, Ser. No. 638,848 Int. Cl. F23d 13/14 US. Cl. 431-329 2 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE THE INVENTION An infrared generating burner is made of a number of small units mounted on a single burner head or casting, the size of the units being such that the combustion sustaining screens will not warp as a result of repeated heating and cooling, and the units being arranged in any desired order so as to produce a ray emission of any desired pattern.

THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of an infrared ray generating burner embodying the invention, the same being shown as used in the oven or broiler of a cooking range.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged vertical sectional view taken through the center of the burner.

FIG. 2a is a fragmentary bottom plan view looking in the direction of line 2a2a on FIG. 2.

FIG. 3 is an exploded view showing the components of one of the burner units shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

FIG. 4 is a vertical sectional view taken through the center of an assembled burner unit formed of the parts shown in FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of a burner formed of a number of circularly arranged units.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of a sub-assembly showing the preferred method of manufacturing the burner of FIG. 5.

FIG. 7 is a plan view of a burner formed of units of uniform size arranged along intersecting lines.

FIG. 8 is a plan view of a sub-assembly showing the preferred method of manufacturing the burner of FIG. 7.

FIG. 9 is similar to FIG. 7 but shows a burner formed of units of different sizes.

FIGS. 10 and 11 are plan views showing burners arranged in various patterns.

As can be seen from the drawings, which are merely illustrative, an infrared ray generating burner embodying this invention is formed of a number of small units which can be of various sizes and shapes and which can be arranged in various patterns, and a common means for supplying all the units with gaseous fuel.

This invention is the result of years of study and experimentation which established a definite upper limit to the size of the gas combustion screens which radiate the infrared rays. This limit made it impossible, for example, to make a radiant burner of the same size as the bottom of a standard size oven, or broiler, because if the combustion sustaining screens of the burner were made of the required size, they warped under the high heat to which they are subjected. If the area of the burner is materially less than that of the broiler, there will be a hot spot below the burner, with nonuniform cooking. It has also been discovered that if the screens are made long and narrow,

' they did not warp. A successful heater of this type measured 3" by 6'. In other words, it has been discovered that a screen which is 3" x 3", or 3" x 6, will not warp, and that a screen 12' x 12 for example, will warp. Obviously, the exact line of demarcation will depend on the weight and mesh of the screen; on how it is mounted; on whether it is supported; the degree of heat to which it is subjected; and so forth. But, for practical purposes, and for the purpose of this invention, it can be assumed that under average conditions, a burner screen of about 5" x 5" or less, is satisfactory, and that anything above that will tend to warp.

Broadly stated, the invention resides in making a burner out of small, warp-proof units and in arranging them over the desisred area and in the desired pattern so as to provide uniform, or nonuniform, heat over all, or over only parts of a given area. For example, for use over a circular pan, the burner of FIG. 5 will be preferred, and for use over the square, or rectangular bottom of an oven, or broiler, the burner of FIG. 2a or of FIG. 10 will be preferred, and so on, for the arrangements shown in the other figures and for other readily conceived arrangements not shown.

In FIG. 1, the burner of this invention is shown as used in the broiler 10 of a cooking range, only a portion of the outer, insulated wall 12 of which is shown. This is by way of illustration only, because instead of being used as a broiler, in an oven, the burner can be used as a space heater, or for other purposes. The burner includes a hollow casing providing a fuel chamber 14 to which gaseous fuel is delivered by a venturi 16. The structure and operation of the burner as a whole, be it used as a space heater, as a broiler in an oven, or otherwise, form no part of this invention and are neither shown, nor described. It is suflicient, for the purpose of this disclosure, that the underside of chamber 14 is closed by a wall 18 which carries a number of pendent burner units 20, each of which is about 1%." across. As shown in FIG. 2a, units 20 are round and are distributed over the entire area of bottom wall 18, but it is understood that the burner units 20 may have other shapes and may be arranged in the patterns shown in the other figures, or may be arranged in shapes and patterns other than those illustrated. In other words, the invention resides in providing a common fuel chamber 14, in providing a number of burner units 20 which are connected to the chamber and are so small that their combustion screens will not warp, and which, because of their sizes and shapes, can be arranged in any desired order to provide the desired pattern of heat radiation.

The burner units 20 are placed very close to each other so as to reduce, or eliminate, cold spots which can occur if the burners are sufliciently far apart, and so as to make it possible for one ignited burner to ignite the next onein chain reaction fashion-so to speak. In practice, burner units spaced apart about /3" operated successfully in that, an igniter applied to one unit 20 ignited all of the units of an assembly such as that shown in FIG. 2. This makes it possible to use one igniter no matter how large the burner assembly may be. The igniter may take the form of a pilot flame, or a spark, or a match applied to one of the burner units.

The components of a preferred form of unit 20 are shown in FIG. 3, from which it will be seen that bottom wall 18 is provided with openings 22 for receiving the cuplike portions 24 which depend from flat portions 26. Overlying cups 24 and flat screens 26, is a screen 28 which closes the upper open end of the cup as shown in FIG. 4.

A clamping plate 30, preferably provided with a ring 32 which defines opening 33, is placed over screen 28 and is welded, as at 34, to bottom wall 18 to complete the assembly.

Instead of assembling each set of screens individually, in individual openings in bottom wall 18, two or more sets of such screens can be prepared and welded to a clamping plate segment 36, as shown in FIGS. 6 and 8. These segments are then easily inserted in correspondingly shaped openings in bottom wall 18 and welded in place. The openings may be shaped as shown by dotted lines 23 in FIGS. and 7. This eliminates the labor needed for welding each burner unit 20, individually.

In FIG. 3, screen 28 is shown as being coextensive with screens 26, with a screen 28 for each screen 26, but it is to be understood that screen 28 can be made in one piece which is coextensive with bottom wall 18.

The screens may be of forty mesh which, in practice, has been found successful. When screens are used in sandwich form, it is desirable, if not necessary, to use three screens to prevent flash-back which can occur if the incandescent outer screen is close to, or touching, the inner screen. But, since, according to this invention, the bottom combustion surface of cup 24 is well spaced from screen 28, no third screen is needed to prevent flash-hack.

In addition to lending support to screen cups 24, pendent flanges 38 also reinforce wall 18 and prevent it from warping under the stress of the extremes in temperature to which it is subjected in normal use.

Except for the arrangements as shown in FIGS. 5 and 8 through 11, the structure of the units may be the same as that shown in the preceding figures. It will be noted, however, that when units are disposed along straight lines, the number of units which can be preassembled in the manner shown in FIG. 8, can be increased. It will be understood that the area surrounded by units 20 in FIG. 5 and the areas between the intersecting rows of units in FIG. 7, and similar areas in the other views, are blank in the sense that the radiation will be in the form of a ring in FIG. 5, in the form of a cross in FIG. 7, and in the form of a square in FIG. 10, and so on. It will be understood that in the arrangement of FIG. 2a, the units 20 cover an area which is substantially congruent with the area of the bottom of the stove.

The structure shown in FIG. 9 uses units 40 of inwardly decreasing sizes to provide a pattern of radiation which is stronger at the corners than it is at the center.

In the structure of FIG. 11 there is shown unit 42 which is longer but the width of which does not exceed the optimum of about 1 /2, or so. The burner shown in FIG. 11 may be made in any length up to 6', more or less.

It will be seen that by following the teaching of the invention, one can produce an infrared ray generator of any over-all size and shape and one which will not become warped. It will also be seen that by arranging the burner units in the desired pattern, complete control of the heat output can be achieved.

The method disclosed greatly reduces the cost of manufacture. For example, to make a burner of an area of 18" x 24", the bottom plate 18 is cut in that size and is provided with the requisite number of openings 22. Next, the requisite number of individual, preformed screen cups is inserted into the openings, or a single screen is cut to the same size as bottom wall 18, and is processed to provide a number of cups 24 which corresponds to the number of openings 22. With the cups disposed in the openings, a flat, upper screen 28 is cut to size and is placed over the cup-bearing screen, and a single clamping plate 30 having the desired number of openings 33 is placed in position and spot-welded to bottom 18.

Alternately, the sub-assemblies such as those exemplified in FIGS. 6 and 8, can be manufactured in quantities and assembled to produce burners of the desired over-all size and shape.

In operation, the gaseous fuel delivered through venturi 16 passes through opening 33 and through screen 26, and is burnt on the exterior surface of cup 24. Because of its small size and because of restraining flange 38, the cup can be brought to incandescence, and cooled repeatedly, without any permanent deformation.

What I claim is:

1. A gas burning infrared generator including:

a housing defining a fuel chamber having a bottom wall,

means for delivering fuel to said chamber,

there being openings formed in said bottom wall,

a plurality of individual, spaced burner units projecting through said openings beyond the plane of said wall, and

means supplying said burner units with fuel from said chamber,

each of said burner units comprising a foraminous cuplike member projecting through a respective opening with its open end having an outwardly directed flange portion disposed upon the inner surface of said wall, and means for clamping the members upon said inner surface of the wall to prevent passage of gas externally of the burner except through the cup-like membets.

2. The generator of claim 1 wherein each of said burner units further comprises a sheet-like foraminous member overlying and closing the open end of said cup-like member and abutting the flange thereon, and a clamping member disposed upon said sheet-like foraminous member and affixed to the bottom wall through the sheet-like member and the flanged portion of the cup-like member, the clamping member having an opening therein aligned with the respective opening in the bottom wall,

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 922,502 5/ 1909 Park.

960,818 6/1910 Casto. 1,852,154 4/1932 Drake et a]. 2,336,816 12/1943 Thompson 158-112 2,493,266 1/ 1950 Schmitt. 3,129,749 4/1964 Honger l58112 3,151,659 10/1964 Ravich 1581 12 X 3,336,915 8/1967 Fannon et al.

FOREIGN PATENTS 333,034 9/1903 France.

JAMES W. WESTHAVER, Primary Examiner. 

